Turnover's Going Back Up

Agreed.
You hear from all these companies (my employer being one of them) and some of these drivers always talking/bragging about miles,miles and miles. And as I’ve said before miles doesn’t do diddly squat if the PAY DOESN’T MATCH IT!! What good does it do if you’re doing 3000 miles a week but you’re only making 35-36 cents a mile?? Especially if the company uses the sliding scale racket??

 

But before you ask for more money, ask yourself “am I really and truly worth more money? Have I directly or indirectly cost the company money, outside of my normal wage?” Based on some of what I observe, I suspect at least a few are probably being paid more than they are demonstrating they are worth.

 

A lot of the new recruits think trucking is easy money. Shoot, some even think they can gamble it all by keeping the bad habits(do I smell pot around here?). All chrome and glory is what they expect. Reality comes kicking in and they jump ship.

 

If the cost of getting a CDL and the training standards were high enough to justify paying a truck driver $150k a year that would be one thing, but as it sits it’s way too easy to get into the industry to pay much more than places are now. Driving isn’t easy, but it’s certainly not the toughest thing to do. And anyone that wants to go get a CDL can do it.

The megas do nothing to recruit experienced drivers. They rely on people new to the industry to keep their wages low, and they make money by convincing new drivers that L/P is the best way to go. They treat people like dirt and expect them to live in a truck for a month or two at a time, then they get to go home for a whole 2 or 3 days. Then once that person gets some experience they leave the mega for a better job elsewhere.

Of course you also have the people that bounce from mega to mega every few months thinking somehow mega A is different than mega B, but they find out they’re all the same.

If the big companies were truly concerned with turnover they would change their business practices, but until they do I have a hard time feeing sorry for them. Turnover is not an industry-wide problem when there are small companies that have waiting lists of people wanting to get hired on.

 

IDK about that. In can depend on what kind of training the student/potential driver received. When I obtained my CDL the costs of tuition(books,classes,in the field and on the road training,loans,etc.) costed me just north of $11,000. Not exactly cheap but it was high quality training.
You get what you paid for.

 

And ?60% of population not in the market.market goes up on average 7 % per year.and if your in it.why are you not hedged ?

 

Driver shortage is mostly because of the lifestyle of this type of job. OTR candidates go in thinking they can earn a decent living and still have something resembling a normal life. (Normal as defined as something that occurs naturally).
Being an OTR driver isn’t cut out for everybody. Sorry, it’s just not. But that’s what OTR companies want. They want quality drivers who are committed to living a life on the road. And by definition that’s exactly what OTR is. A lifestyle. #### Right turnover is high and it’ll get higher. What’s happening now is OTR companies are stealing the good drivers from other companies by offering them a better pay package and amenities with the OTR lifestyle in mind. If you’re not committed to this type of work then no amount of money will make you stay. As for those of us who are already doomed to a life on the road, pay does matter. We know we’re the creme’ de’ la creme, of this industry and we expect to be compensated accordingly

 

More than 30,000 Indian-American Sikhs have entered the trucking industry in 2 years